Really wish it was legal in the US... looks like fun. The safety argument is ridiculous, as I can walk through any grocery store / home depot / target / whatever and buy plenty of products that are much more dangerous than moonshine... and toss the tax argument, too, as I'd certainly pay for stamps / an annual license or something. Ah, well... guess I'll stick to brewing.

Doc Daneeka:I'm trying my hand at home-brewing beer. Got some equipment for Christmas. First batch should be ready in a couple weeks.

Not expecting my first attempt to be any good, but I hope I at least don't kill myself.

Doc Daneeka:First attempt is an IPA. Only trying a 1 gallon batch for starters. We'll see how it turns out.

Good luck! I don't really get the 1 gallon thing, as it's not much more hassle to brew 5 (more time to heat/boil/etc, of course), and there's more risk in a small batch (much more sensitive to ingredient quantity mistakes / etc), but here's hoping it goes well for you!

You're gonna get lots of tips from lots of people, and I'll add to the chorus with what might be more unusual advice:

1) You cannot be too clean -- clean everything, one-step everything, iodine your carboys/kegs, keep a tub of one-step during your brew day and rinse/wash your gear and yourself constantly. Bad homebrew, wayyyy more often than not, is a result of bad cleanliness practices. You could probably remove an appendix safely in my kitchen on a brew day, and I have never, not once, had a bad batch in it... the results of a brew day at a less particular friend's place? Trainwreck. Cleanliness is underrated -- sure, you can be a filthy hippie homebrewer, but you'll have more success if you're a OCD-sanitary one. Yes, this raises your costs (I go through one-step at a scary rate, but it's available in 50-pound pails, if you really jump in), but dramatically reduces your risk of failure.

2) Brew with someone else first. I'd be willing to bet substantial money that there is someone near you who would be happy to have some help on a brew day. The first few times I did it, it just didn't make much sense, and I didn't know what was important and what wasn't. Brew with an experienced brewer (check your local homebrew shop for a bulletin board, classes, something) early on, and flatten out that initial learning curve!

3) Bottling can go straight to hell. The single upside to bottling is being able to store examples of your batches and compare them against each other. Beyond that, it's all pointless ass pain and another avenue through which Fail can sneak into your batch. Grab a fridge or freezer off Craigslist for damn-near free and convert it, or, better yet, find some poor bastard who has a wife who thinks it's appropriate to force him to sell all his toys on the occasion of some life change. You can fill your homebrew gear closet with once-used gear (sold, often, because "bottling is a pain in the ass and it didn't come out right -- fark it") and a used kegerator ("wife wants a craft room - 'no room' for a keg") for less than an extensive set of new gear. Look around - make room and skip straight to kegging!

4) The hobby is huge in terms of nooks and crannies of interest... get the hang of it before you wade out into the deep end of the pool. Maybe you'll like experimenting and coming up with your own recipes. Maybe you'll enjoy being a gadget/gear freak and really honing your process and tool collection. Maybe you'll love cloning and blind-tasting your results. But don't decide the second brew batch is a good time to try to clone your favorite beer with your own recipe on your new collection of gear all at once! In fact, I'd pretty strongly recommend sticking with kits (Northern Brewer is reliable and extensive; there are others) until you get the hang of it, and figure out which styles you enjoy brewing.

Have fun!

/ 5 on tap, 1 on standby, cider in carboy, 4 kits to brew, probably this weekend// off to add new favorites in "homebrewer yelllow"

James Yeager: "Let me amend my previous threat - I will kill anyone who takes my guns and/or my beer. Furthermore that shall not be limited to other beverages such as Kool-Aid, which I keep a healthy stock of and is available at my 2nd amendment support groups, workshops and retreats at a competitive price."

Geeze. First off, Submitter your headline is bad and you should feel bad. Home brew is the creation of ales, beers, stouts, etc. Home vintnering is the creation of wines and meads, and finally home distilling is the creation of spirits and liqueurs. Learn the difference. The people involved did not drink home brew they drank home distilled spirits.

Second, hydrometers... Yes with one of these you CAN find out how much alcohol is in a spirit.

Third, if this was brought about by Methanol poisoning... the distillers were idiots.

Use properly clean equipment, an aerated environment, and a sugar based wort and you should be fine, even when you're brewing pectin containing fruits for your distillate.

So long as you use reasonable fermenting and distilling processes you have 0 danger.

Only if someone adds it in. Distilled spirits contain far less methanol than wine and beer. The small amount of methanol that forms in the mash is mostly removed during the distillation. The myth that moonshine can make you go blind or be poisoned is due to people mixing up their own liquor with methanol and other substances rather than home distillation. The article even mentions that sometimes methanol is added to increase the alcohol content.

New Zealand is currently the only country in the world where home distillation is legal.

my_cats_breath_smells_like_cat_food:You are all missing the most important reason why this article is right baout homebrewing being deadly, and I'm not talking about Methanol VS. Ethanol. No, the most obvious reason is that this article is from Australia. And I have it on good authority that EVERYTHING IN AUSTRALIA WILL KILL YOU. OFTEN PAINFULLY.

/also, 2nd to the guy that recommended homebrewtalk.com//EdWort's Apfelwein is awesome too

Hah! Another Apfelwein fan!

I'm pretty new to the hobby. The wife let me buy a Mr. Beer because it was on clearance. The first thing I brewed, a Mr. Beer Whispering Wheat, came out terrible; it tasted like liquid Wonder Bread. I wanted to make a second attempt and get it right, but the nearest homebrew supply is over an hour away, and I really didn't want to spend $30 for another extract kit. Then I found Edwort's Apfelwein recipe. Store brand apple juice, brown sugar, and a pack of EC-1118 champagne yeast (bought online) -- total cost for a batch is like $10.

I've already made 4 batches. I did two with honey, cinnamon, and spices, which were a huge hit at Christmas. I made one apple/grape blend just because I had some grape juice sitting around; it's still quite young, but it tastes oddly like tawny port. The batch I bottled last Saturday I brewed with Martinell's sparkling cider that relatives gave me just because I wanted the bottles for bottling. They'd been sitting around in a pantry for a year and were going to be tossed anyway, so I asked if I could have them. As I was about to dump the juice, I decided to give it a taste, and it still tasted fresh, so, what the heck, right? One of the bottles was Cranberry Apple, and I've gotta say, the hint of cranberry made this stuff taste great when I sampled it at bottling time.

TL;DR: For the noob homebrewer on a tight budget, apfelwein is the way to go.

amyldoanitrite:my_cats_breath_smells_like_cat_food: You are all missing the most important reason why this article is right baout homebrewing being deadly, and I'm not talking about Methanol VS. Ethanol. No, the most obvious reason is that this article is from Australia. And I have it on good authority that EVERYTHING IN AUSTRALIA WILL KILL YOU. OFTEN PAINFULLY.

/also, 2nd to the guy that recommended homebrewtalk.com//EdWort's Apfelwein is awesome too

Hah! Another Apfelwein fan!

I'm pretty new to the hobby. The wife let me buy a Mr. Beer because it was on clearance. The first thing I brewed, a Mr. Beer Whispering Wheat, came out terrible; it tasted like liquid Wonder Bread. I wanted to make a second attempt and get it right, but the nearest homebrew supply is over an hour away, and I really didn't want to spend $30 for another extract kit. Then I found Edwort's Apfelwein recipe. Store brand apple juice, brown sugar, and a pack of EC-1118 champagne yeast (bought online) -- total cost for a batch is like $10.

I've already made 4 batches. I did two with honey, cinnamon, and spices, which were a huge hit at Christmas. I made one apple/grape blend just because I had some grape juice sitting around; it's still quite young, but it tastes oddly like tawny port. The batch I bottled last Saturday I brewed with Martinell's sparkling cider that relatives gave me just because I wanted the bottles for bottling. They'd been sitting around in a pantry for a year and were going to be tossed anyway, so I asked if I could have them. As I was about to dump the juice, I decided to give it a taste, and it still tasted fresh, so, what the heck, right? One of the bottles was Cranberry Apple, and I've gotta say, the hint of cranberry made this stuff taste great when I sampled it at bottling time.

TL;DR: For the noob homebrewer on a tight budget, apfelwein is the way to go.

Okay, I've been procrastinating on making a batch of this EdWort recipe for a year. I can't think of a better way to honor Dr. King than planting the seeds of future drunkenness on his (observed) birthday.

Big Beef Burrito:amyldoanitrite: my_cats_breath_smells_like_cat_food: You are all missing the most important reason why this article is right baout homebrewing being deadly, and I'm not talking about Methanol VS. Ethanol. No, the most obvious reason is that this article is from Australia. And I have it on good authority that EVERYTHING IN AUSTRALIA WILL KILL YOU. OFTEN PAINFULLY.

/also, 2nd to the guy that recommended homebrewtalk.com//EdWort's Apfelwein is awesome too

Hah! Another Apfelwein fan!

I'm pretty new to the hobby. The wife let me buy a Mr. Beer because it was on clearance. The first thing I brewed, a Mr. Beer Whispering Wheat, came out terrible; it tasted like liquid Wonder Bread. I wanted to make a second attempt and get it right, but the nearest homebrew supply is over an hour away, and I really didn't want to spend $30 for another extract kit. Then I found Edwort's Apfelwein recipe. Store brand apple juice, brown sugar, and a pack of EC-1118 champagne yeast (bought online) -- total cost for a batch is like $10.

I've already made 4 batches. I did two with honey, cinnamon, and spices, which were a huge hit at Christmas. I made one apple/grape blend just because I had some grape juice sitting around; it's still quite young, but it tastes oddly like tawny port. The batch I bottled last Saturday I brewed with Martinell's sparkling cider that relatives gave me just because I wanted the bottles for bottling. They'd been sitting around in a pantry for a year and were going to be tossed anyway, so I asked if I could have them. As I was about to dump the juice, I decided to give it a taste, and it still tasted fresh, so, what the heck, right? One of the bottles was Cranberry Apple, and I've gotta say, the hint of cranberry made this stuff taste great when I sampled it at bottling time.

TL;DR: For the noob homebrewer on a tight budget, apfelwein is the way to go.

Okay, I've been procrastinating on making a batch of this EdWort recipe for a year. I can't think of a better w ...

Yeah, Apfelwein is amazing for the ease/value of it. And as Amyldoanitrite showed, there are tons of options for tweaking/experimenting. Also, it will f*ck you up, in the best way possible. I've gotten a good chunk of my extended family hosed on that stuff.

I need to remember to make the 2nd batch 2-4 weeks after the last one...because I tend to forget about it while it ages for 3 months, and then drink it all over the course of 3-4 glorious drunken weeks, and then not having anymore for the next 3 months.

/I prefer mine carbed and chilled in 22oz bombers. 2 of those will get you feeling goooood. 3 and I hope you don't have to drive anywhere. 4 and I...well...I hope you have a bucket handy, or have been on a 8+ hour binge with nothing to do for the next couple days.//Man, I Love Apfelwein ;)

amyldoanitrite:my_cats_breath_smells_like_cat_food: You are all missing the most important reason why this article is right baout homebrewing being deadly, and I'm not talking about Methanol VS. Ethanol. No, the most obvious reason is that this article is from Australia. And I have it on good authority that EVERYTHING IN AUSTRALIA WILL KILL YOU. OFTEN PAINFULLY.

/also, 2nd to the guy that recommended homebrewtalk.com//EdWort's Apfelwein is awesome too

Hah! Another Apfelwein fan!

I'm pretty new to the hobby. The wife let me buy a Mr. Beer because it was on clearance. The first thing I brewed, a Mr. Beer Whispering Wheat, came out terrible; it tasted like liquid Wonder Bread. I wanted to make a second attempt and get it right, but the nearest homebrew supply is over an hour away, and I really didn't want to spend $30 for another extract kit. Then I found Edwort's Apfelwein recipe. Store brand apple juice, brown sugar, and a pack of EC-1118 champagne yeast (bought online) -- total cost for a batch is like $10.

SNIPTL;DR: For the noob homebrewer on a tight budget, apfelwein is the way to go.

I know I just posted more apfelwein rantiness...but I forgot to elaborate on the value. I typically brew 5gallon batches, and the store had Mott's applejuice for $4.99/g last month. Now, 1st off, everytime I pour in 4 of the 1g jugs into my fermenter, it ALWAYS comes up just under 5 total gallons. So I am guessing they marginally overfill each jug in the factory. I can technically fit a little over 6g in my fermenters (only because this stuff ferments with virtually zero krausen) so I will put in 5 1-gallon jugs ($25), add 2.5 lbs of plain old table sugar ($4 max), and 1 packet of Montrechet Champagne yeast ($0.99 at the local homebrew shop or online) and get 6 gallons of 9-10% ABV Apfelwein for about $30. Granted, this was lucky because the juice was on a good sale, it can range up to $8/g bumping the total up to $45 total. But for approx. 64 standard 12oz bottles? Can't beat the value at 50-75cents/bottle at that ABV. And I LIKE how it tastes.

Distillers can insert a small tube into the spirit kit, which accurately measures how strong the spirits are, he said.Distillers can insert a small tube into the spirit kit, which accurately measures how strong the spirits are, he said.

EXPERT testimonial. Would it measure the methanol levels? I just began homebrewing and the lack of specificity here borders on cancerous. HYDROMETER.

On the subject of Apfelwein, I had particularly good luck using dark brown sugar, a little molasses (one half cup,) three tbsp. cinnamon and one-quarter tsp. ground cloves. I added the sugar and spices to a small pot, poured apple juice over it (Aldi store-brand 100% juice works well and is cheap,) and cooked them to a boil to be sure the spices were clean, then poured it into my fermenter and rinsed the pot with more apple juice until I got it all down the funnel.

The end result was a slightly sweeter Apfelwein with a nice spiciness. I served it with gingerbread cookies at Christmas and everyone got very happily plowed on it.

I had a 1gal jug of Apple Cider that I got from apple hill here in norcal. This is good cider, cold pressed, unfiltered, unpasturized. We drank half of it and forgot about it in the 'fridge for a month. My partner goes and pours herself a drink and I take a sip. Whaddaya know it was bubbly and tasted of wine. I take a look at the container, and sure enough there was a bunch of yeast on the bottom.A Quick google search about what to do next and I bottled it all up in those DIY soda carbonator bottles and added some sugar. I'm careful to watch the pressure on the bottles and so far so good, homemade sparkling cider. :)Next time I go to apple hill I plan on buying at least 2 gallons. Maybe even get a proper setup.Don't know about brewing beer just yet, seems like a lot more hassle then "put in bottle, wait a few weeks".

I was worried about methanol, But everything I've found online is that even though apples are high in pectin which creates methanol, so long as I'm not distilling it will be fine, and cold fermenting should help keep it down too.I'm also trying to keep the yeast. Still figuring out how to do that though.

my_cats_breath_smells_like_cat_food:I know I just posted more apfelwein rantiness...but I forgot to elaborate on the value. I typically brew 5gallon batches, and the store had Mott's applejuice for $4.99/g last month. Now, 1st off, everytime I pour in 4 of the 1g jugs into my fermenter, it ALWAYS comes up just under 5 total gallons. So I am guessing they marginally overfill each jug in the factory. I can technically fit a little over 6g in my fermenters (only because this stuff ferments with virtually zero krausen) so I will put in 5 1-gallon jugs ($25), add 2.5 lbs of plain old table sugar ($4 max), and 1 packet of Montrechet Champagne yeast ($0.99 at the local homebrew shop or online) and get 6 gallons of 9-10% ABV Apfelwein for about $30. Granted, this was lucky because the juice was on a good sale, it can range up to $8/g bumping the total up to $45 total. But for approx. 64 standard 12oz bottles? C ...

Do you bottle it with or without priming it (adding sugar for carbonation)?

namegoeshere:The first batch we made was one of the best. The bummer of it is, you can never get the exact same result in a homebrew setting. Too many variables. So if you like a batch, enjoy it. When it's gone, it's gone.

My electric PID controlled home brewery says different. :)

mojotele:You can't die from drinking homebrew beer period (barring things like adding rat poison to it). Even if you don't sanitize properly, the worst you'll get is a lactobacillus, acetobacter, or mold infection. Sure, the beer won't taste/look great, but drinking it won't hurt you.

Also, THIS. There are no known pathogens that can survive in beer.

neritz:Or if he doesn't have a secondary, just let it sit in the primary for two weeks. That's what I tend to do.

/I need to get a secondary.

No need to secondary unless you plan on adding adjuncts, fruit, etc., or leaving the beer for over a month. Autolysis is very rare, and usually due to improper yeast pitching rates combined with an over extended primary fermentation.

calm like a bomb:I used to do that as well, but then I bought a second bucket for like $12. And then I bought a Bayou Classic burner. And then I bought a wort chiller. And then I bought a bottle washer. And then I figured I needed another refrigerator. And then since I had the fridge, I figured it was time to buy a kegging setup. What was that definition of addiction again?

SFSailor:Bottling can go straight to hell. The single upside to bottling is being able to store examples of your batches and compare them against each other. Beyond that, it's all pointless ass pain and another avenue through which Fail can sneak into your batch

I agree with most of what you said elsewhere in your post (we've talked homebrew on Fark before), but this part I'll have to strongly disagree.

Don't get me wrong; I have 16 kegs and 5 beers on tap, including a nitrogen tap, but I also have a wall of bottled beer for varying legit reasons. The most common reason I'll bottle is for certain styles that benefit from extended bottle conditioning (such as Trappist ales for example). Another reason I'll bottle a beer is if it's a sour ale such as lambics, gueuzes, and wild/funk/brettanomyces ales. I don't want those bugs in my tap lines and faucets, and bottles are much easier to isolate those bugs from the rest of the brewery. They are also much easier to give away samples to friends and beer judges for competition (I HATE filling bottles from the keg).

rwfan:my_cats_breath_smells_like_cat_food: I know I just posted more apfelwein rantiness...but I forgot to elaborate on the value. I typically brew 5gallon batches, and the store had Mott's applejuice for $4.99/g last month. Now, 1st off, everytime I pour in 4 of the 1g jugs into my fermenter, it ALWAYS comes up just under 5 total gallons. So I am guessing they marginally overfill each jug in the factory. I can technically fit a little over 6g in my fermenters (only because this stuff ferments with virtually zero krausen) so I will put in 5 1-gallon jugs ($25), add 2.5 lbs of plain old table sugar ($4 max), and 1 packet of Montrechet Champagne yeast ($0.99 at the local homebrew shop or online) and get 6 gallons of 9-10% ABV Apfelwein for about $30. Granted, this was lucky because the juice was on a good sale, it can range up to $8/g bumping the total up to $45 total. But for approx. 64 standard 12oz bottles? C ...

Do you bottle it with or without priming it (adding sugar for carbonation)?

I use priming sugar, bottle it using the exact same process as when I bottle my beer. 4oz per 5g, so I usually have to bump it up to 4.75-5.0 oz when I have 6g of Apfelwein.

Qwertyette:I had a 1gal jug of Apple Cider that I got from apple hill here in norcal. This is good cider, cold pressed, unfiltered, unpasturized. We drank half of it and forgot about it in the 'fridge for a month. My partner goes and pours herself a drink and I take a sip. Whaddaya know it was bubbly and tasted of wine. I take a look at the container, and sure enough there was a bunch of yeast on the bottom.A Quick google search about what to do next and I bottled it all up in those DIY soda carbonator bottles and added some sugar. I'm careful to watch the pressure on the bottles and so far so good, homemade sparkling cider. :)Next time I go to apple hill I plan on buying at least 2 gallons. Maybe even get a proper setup.Don't know about brewing beer just yet, seems like a lot more hassle then "put in bottle, wait a few weeks".

I was worried about methanol, But everything I've found online is that even though apples are high in pectin which creates methanol, so long as I'm not distilling it will be fine, and cold fermenting should help keep it down too.I'm also trying to keep the yeast. Still figuring out how to do that though.

This might help you with the yeast saving thing. Obviously your volumes will be way less since you have 1g or less and this is for a 5g batch. But basically if you follow this and just aim for 1-pint mason jar for the end product, you should end up with pitchable yeast.

When you get the new stuff you want to ferment, just warm up the jar, decant the liquid off the top, and pour the mini-yeast cake into your new jug/jugs. A little will go a long way.

I wash yeast all the time. I had some Nottingham Ale yeast that I washed last February and just pitched last weekend, still fermented like a champ. That said, they are time sensitive, so the sooner you use it the better.

namegoeshere:Doc Daneeka: I'm trying my hand at home-brewing beer. Got some equipment for Christmas. First batch should be ready in a couple weeks.

Not expecting my first attempt to be any good, but I hope I at least don't kill myself.

The first batch we made was one of the best. The bummer of it is, you can never get the exact same result in a homebrew setting. Too many variables. So if you like a batch, enjoy it. When it's gone, it's gone.

Also, follow directions and sterilize your stuff and you won't die. Beer isn't rocket surgery. TFA is talking about homemade hooch, which is illegal in the US.

Gonna have to call BS on that. If you use the same grains, hops, yeast and water the same boiling time what is so "variable". I brewed at least a full grain 5 gal. batch every week for better than five years, and the beer was perfectly comparable over each batch.

I can think of three shops offhand in my area where you can buy the flavours to add to it: Ouzo, Whiskey, Bailey's, Rum, Zambucca, pretty much whatever you'd want to drink. I don't make it myself but I have several friends who do and it's always turned out lovely.

Google "spirit flavours". Although you probably can't import them to America. I suppose you could try, see if customs confiscates them. They're cheap so it wouldn't be a big loss.

This has turned into a brewers thread, which I can respect. However, my eyes have glazed over, since I have no interest in home booze anything.

But, there was a line in TFA that caught my eye, can anybody respond to it?

"Tyson passed out after drinking during the afternoon and his friends put him in the recovery position."

WTF is the recovery position? Is this something they should have taught us in college so our buddies didn't puke on our cat? If the roadies for Led Zeppelin knew of such position, might John Bonham still be alive?

ozarkmatt:WTF is the recovery position? Is this something they should have taught us in college so our buddies didn't puke on our cat? If the roadies for Led Zeppelin knew of such position, might John Bonham still be alive?

Probably on his side or sitting up so he didn't drown in his won vomit. So it's possible, yes to your John Bonham question.

abhorrent1:ozarkmatt: WTF is the recovery position? Is this something they should have taught us in college so our buddies didn't puke on our cat? If the roadies for Led Zeppelin knew of such position, might John Bonham still be alive?

Probably on his side or sitting up so he didn't drown in his won vomit. So it's possible, yes to your John Bonham question.

Doc Daneeka:Since there are a bunch of homebrewers here, let me ask a question.

How can you tell when the beer is ready for bottling? Should I wait until there is no more foam on the surface of the beer?

Specific gravity that doesn't change over a 3 day period. If it is still dropping then the yeast is still converting sugars to alcohol. When they eat all they can the specific gravity will stabilize.

The foam (kreuzen) will form, then fall, but the yeast might not yet be done and the foam may not all go away even when it is bottling time.

Oh, and when you have a stable SG, taste test it! If it seems young let it stay in there another week or 2. Tasting as you go. Some beers will change during this time, some won't like a hefe weizen. They go through fermentation quickly and can be really good in a week or 2. Other beers improve with more time in the fermenter.